Discussions
History Lesson Night had fallen and Jason had finally stopped running. He was panting, and absolutely drained; he'd been running for hours, carrying Tsuruko and Solele despite the former's objections, and simply hadn't stopped. The creature, the Bujin, had, thankfully, not pursued them over the mountain range. Not yet putting the girls down, Jason immediately ducked into a cave, hollowed out by years of erosion into the mountainside. "I think..." His breath was heavy as he put them down onto the ground. "I think it's gone...for now..." "The thing is," Tsuruko's azure eyes flickered, "It's normally super-duper-persistent, like he appears out of nowhere sometimes. Like, this one time, he appeared from a mirror, and..." "That's enough, boltbrain." Solele tried to strike Tsuruko to silence her- but to no avail, as Tsuruko swiftly evaded. Jason immediately went about ripping a large portion of the stone from the far back of the cave off, perfectly forming a large boulder, which he proceeded to roll towards the entrance, placing it directly in front of it, effectively cutting them off from the outside, but leaving it open enough to allow air to cycle through. As the darkness fell, Jason formed a small sphere of magical energy, which he left floating to give them light. "Tsuruko, you mentioned, earlier, that the Bujin Gaiki was the result of the merging of the two primordials, Gehaburn and Elsydeon, did you not?" Jason was crisp and to the point; the time for messing around was long gone. "What exactly do you know about the origin of our world?" Jason needed to know much Tsuruko knew; Hephaestus had already filled him in. Two centuries worth of knowledge. "Well, a long time ago, there was only a churning turmoil of chaos. At the heart of chaos, where all things became one, appeared an egg. Having tumbled from the vortex, the egg gave rise to the Exalted Thingy, which made two giant demons out of nothing; those were Varian and Origin, and the rest of the world was formed from them. Varian and Origin made Gehaburn and Elysdeon respectively, and that Exalted Thingy went back to sleep. Though, an old friend of mine seemed to be related to that Exalted Thingy, but it was really unclear how." Tsuruko sighed, "And alongside Origin and Varian, there were two 'embodiment', of humanity, and the supernatural. They had powers far surpassing any creation of the Exalted Thingy." And Tsuruko paused, mentioning off-handedly, "And Giselle was the embodiment of humanity." Jason placed his forefinger to his chin, processing all of this. Most of what Tsuruko said was on par with what Hephaestus told him, but there was something new in all of this. "Two 'embodiments'..." He frowned. Hephaestus never told him that, so he had to assume the man had never met Giselle in the future. This could only mean the timeline had been successfully altered. He unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. "You haven't told me anything new, barring these two 'embodiments'. I suppose that explains Giselle's general arrogance and unearthly power. So, who is the embodiment of the supernatural?" "...That..." Tsuruko pressed her toes to her foot- how on earth did she do that? "...I think it's Giselle's brother. I can't remember the name, but I distinctly remember the thing that we encountered back there to be the same thing as this embodiment." Tsuruko sighed, "I'm not so good at names." Jason's expression contorted into one of comedic irritation; this girl was so confusing. How could she not remember the name of something as important as this? He hung his head for a moment. "Either way...if this is the past, these two must have merged at some point...I'd assumed they were either forcibly unmerged later and sealed within their respective containers." Jason remembered the tower Gehaburn had been sealed in before he broke the seal. "I'm acquainted with the primordials. I'd sealed Gehaburn within my body around eight or so years ago. Elsydeon is a different matter." Jason suddenly became stony-faced. "It's sealed within my enemy; Crux Kouga." "Ehhhh!?" Tsuruko exclaimed, looking at him incrediously. "...What do you mean? Hikari used to hold it...unless somebody extracted it from her. Hopefully non-painfully." Truth be told, Tsuruko Sejren saw Hikari Zanna as a younger sister- and technically, they were siblings; they at least had the same mother. "I've never met this 'Hikari' before." Jason shook his head. "I only know Crux, and, the only reason I even know he has Elsydeon is because of the end result of a time traveller. Who is she?" "Ehhh..." Tsuruko yawned, as she prepared to tell a long story of sorts. "Well, Hikari is a girl that Giselle made a long time ago- about thirty years ago. She was made specifically to host Elysdeon, but then she went missing, and I had to find her. ...And then she went missing again, but I'm not sure what happened then." Truth be told, Tsuruko Sejren saw Hikari Zanna as a surrogate little sister- although, they technically were sisters; at least possessing the same mother. "So that girl was the original vessel for Elsydeon, just like I was for Gehaburn." This simply raised new questions; who was Crux to Hikari? How had he gotten Elsydeon sealed inside his body? "It seems nothing is clarified just yet..." Either way, Crux wasn't the immediate problem. No, right now, he was just a footnote to the behemoth. "What are we going to do?" Jason inquired. "I can still feel the shadow looming. It's not following us, but it isn't gone entirely, the thing we're calling the Bujin Gaiki." "That's the thing," Tsuruko sighed as she stretched as she paused dramatically, before responding cheerfully, "I...have no idea! ...But I will have an idea in a moment." She searched her memorybanks, attempting to come up with a suitable solution. "The best we can do is try and escape here, but in the case that we need to do something, I'd suggest trying to finding somebody who can open up another wormhole." "You say that like someone sets up a shop for it." Jason replied, sounding slightly put off. Giselle was, quite possibly, his new least favorite person; right after E anyway. "Without your mother, we're stuck here for awhile. Besides, I highly doubt that...thing will let us go so easily even with her ring." "Well, it's more that, if my calculations are correct- then we'd be near the Forest of Discord. Which, form dimensional cracks that you can enter and exit as you please. It's an alternate dimension that's nothing but green. Some unusual fruits are grown here...and that's really all I know about it. They seem to be made from an anti-matter particle of some kind." She pointed to her Driver. "For some reason, they work on Driver Belts. But that's beside the point- we can use it to get out of here!" "The Forest of Discord." Jason knew that name from somewhere before, a few months ago in fact. "I believe Giselle mentioned the name to me once before, when I inquired about those belts you wear." A dimensional portal located within a forest. It sounded too good to be true, but it was their best lead, honestly. "It's our only option, we don't have anything else. Giselle can defend herself, and I would personally like to put as much distance between myself and the Bujin Gaiki as I can." "Oh no, it's everywhere. It's how you'd get from Earth Land to Edolas and wherever else you wanted and back without any Anima or requiring a ring." Tsuruko pouted, "However! It's full of primitive symbiotes no matter which dimension you enter it from. I think it's the homeworld of the symbiotes, and the Bujin Gaiki's real form lived there, long ago. I think Giselle said something about creating a dimension to seal him in, too..." "I see. I'm going to make the assumption you know where this forest is, and we'll be relying on you to get us there, Tsuruko." Jason replied, his eyes narrow. A forest where those insane belts were made was their only hope for escape. He couldn't say he liked it, but if it worked, he wasn't going to object. "I suppose, for now, we need to consider ourselves safe and get a rest. We can head for this forest when the sun rises." "So...we're going at..." Tsuruko put on a sheepish grin. "Don't you do it..." For some reason, Solele could tell what was about to happen." "We're going at...daybreak." Tsuruko cackled to herself. "Goddammit." With the terrible joke that Tsuruko Seijin left hanging in the air, Jason extinguished their light as the group found the softest bit of cave they could and proceeded to go to sleep. Little did they know the surprises that the daybreak held. This Could Be Useful On Your Quest "I have looked into your heart, Jason LaHote. Your secrets, your fears, your heart reveals everything to me." A slow, chilling voice spoke; it was soft, but it carried through the dark misty area in which Jason found himself. He looked around, confused. Was this a dream? He clearly remembered falling to sleep in the cave. So where was this? "Who is speaking?" He asked, slowly and clearly. "Your heart...blackened with disdain and hatred for the world..." The voice whispered; Jason could feel something move in the shadows, unseen to him. "Hmmhmhmhmhm...Yes. I can feel your hatred...and your ''fear."'' The last word hung in Jason's head, ringing like a church bell. "You fear me." The voice seemed to laugh; a sinister, carrying laugh that sounded more like a raspy snarl. "That is only natural; a natural reaction to a heart limited by the body." "Limited?" Jason didn't know why he was entertaining this mysterious creature with conversation, but he couldn't help but be curious. "What do you mean, limited?" "Hmmhmhmhmhm..." The voice only chuckled again, and Jason almost felt something slither along his face, but nothing was there when he looked. Where ''was he? What was this? "The heart, bound to a living body, is imperfect. There is so much...more...you can become." It seemed to relish this as it spoke, it's very voice caressing the sentence.'' "What are you driving at?" Jason grit his teeth; this was starting to become less and less amusing as it went on. He was beginning to feel it again; that overwhelming darkness that threatened to suffocate him. This...it couldn't be... "I can set you free." A flash of lightning lit the area, thunder roared and the creature was finally illuminated in all its glory. A long, serpentine body, seemingly limitless in length, with thick, metal-like scales, plated with horns that extended past it's own head like mighty swords, and jet black, with six, glowing red eyes that seemed to peer right into his soul. "NO!" Jason sat bolt upright in the cave, sweating, his heart pumping furiously as he tried to catch his breath. It felt as if he'd just run a mile. That dream...no, could he even call it a dream? That creature had invaded his head...what was it? He felt something warm on his face, and looked over at the cave exit. As tightly closed as the rock was, a small sliver of sunlight managed to break into their hiding spot, indicating the time to rise had long since come. "It's..." Tsuruko exclaimed, "DAYBREEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK TIIIIIIME!" Her shrill voice echoed throughout the area- it seemed to actually knock a few birds out of trees thanks to the high volume. "Alright, everyone, wake up, it's time to go forest hunting!" Solele attempted to throw a large chunk of rock at Tsuruko, who casually dodged without even looking. "Go away." Jason, meanwhile, was still sweating, trying to stop the violent shaking of his body and seemed completely unaware that the two girls had woken up; even with Tsuruko's excessive shouting. In fact, Jason seemed unaware of much of anything right now, looking down at his chest as if trying to find a wound. "JASOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON NOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT WAKE UP!" Tsuruko's nascally voice seemed to reverberate throughout the small rock cave- and disasterously, it could probably cave them in. "Your voice is annoying..." Solele sighed as she stood up again. "The heart..." Jason muttered, clutching the chest area above his own. "What was he talking about...?" Even now, Jason was completely ignoring Tsuruko and Solele, his mind entirely focused on the voice from his 'dream'. "THE HEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!" Tsuruko exclaimed, "I know an idiot who ranted about that a few years back. I think he went senile all of a sudden. But I'm not too sure. AAAAAAAAAAANYWAY!" She shouted once more. "Let's go find the forest." It still took an extra few minutes for Jason to recover from the shocking dream. Steadying his own breath, he tried to calm himself. "It's nothing to think about...not right now..." He told himself. "Alright, Tsuruko. Show us where this forest is." "Alright!" Tsuruko stepped outside of the cavern, dusting herself off. Her recepticle orbs zoomed in- as she analyzed the environment intricately, it worked like Gizoogle maps, really. However, Tsuruko's maps seemed to be far more reliable. "Let me ask you something. Do you guys have to walk a lot too? Because it's a few miles from here if we go straight and then to the right half-way." "My guild's done enough walking that I think I can keep up." Jason replied sharply. "We just need to get there, Tsuruko." "I have wings~" Tsuruko seemed to chime- just like a certain devil woman; whom had appeared a few months ago and dissappeared. She suddenly corrected herself, "This shouldn't take long. At least, if we run. The only thing I miss about the bad future is that there was escalators everywhere..." "Then let's move already." Solele insisted snappishly. Tsuruko's very attitude seemed to be getting to the silver-haired woman; though perhaps it was just her own jealously seeping out. Wasting no more time, the group took off, following Tsuruko's lead as they headed across the new mountain range towards the supposed 'forest'. It seemed that motion was far swifter when Tsuruko was with the group- but mainly because she was like a nasty drill sergent to those she travelled with when they were walking. She wouldn't tolerate slow-pokes, really. "We're nearly there. Don't stop there!" And true enough, there seemed to be a myriad of trees caving in creepily in the distance. "...Am I the only one getting bad vibes from this place?" Solele shuddered as they got closer to the eerie forest. "I've felt worse." Jason muttered darkly. This forest was certainly emanating a dark aura, but the Bujin had been far worse. This is the kind of aura he'd write off as something minor. "This feels like the exact opposite of the Nethran Forest." He noted. "It's not even that bad when you look at it." Though Tsuruko DID point out, "Then again, the Forest of Discord was created by Giselle at the beginning of time to seal an immensely powerful physical god and his mere presence corrupted the forest and caused the first symbiotes to form and..." She paused, "...Actually, it IS kinda bad." "I think that's an understatement." Solele replied sarcastically. "Let's just get in there, we've got business in here, right?" "So this place is steeped in negative energy..." Jason mused. It seemed fitting Giselle would be responsible for a place like this. "Nope! It just looks real dark!" Tsuruko responded; as if hearing Jason's voice. Really, that was all there was to it. It wasn't an "evil dimension", rather that the only thing "evil" about it was that such a bad person was sealed inside of it. Naturally, they had reached the forest within mere minutes; just as Tsuruko had predicted—entering the vast shrubbery. It looked...really sinister. "We're wasting time." Jason said hurriedly. "We don't have time to observe this forest Tsuruko." "Or you could stop complaining." Tsuruko growled in a low-frequency tone. "There's not much to it." She seemed to move ahead of the group- and rather, this certain Tsuruko Sejren's eyes seemed to glow crimson. Irritated with the woman's attitude, Solele delivered a quick kick to Tsuruko's backside — only to let out a hushed howl of pain as she collided with the metal endoskeleton of her robotic body, jumping in place as she rubbed her foot, eyes welling with tears. "What the hell are you made out of?" "If we're here for a rip in time and space..." Jason frowned, his eyes scanning the area. While he may not be a robot, his meetings with Hephaestus gave him enough knowledge to know that such a thing would be conspicuous and visible to even the naked eye, but he couldn't see anything that would fit the bills. "Perhaps it's a bit further in..." He murmured, almost to himself. "It seems to change whenever it appears, really..." Tsuruko investigated the twisted trees- they seemed to be normal, or as close as they could be in this dimension. "It could be anywhere. Ever seen that painting 'crazy stairs'? It's like that, but with forests." "So, the laws of physics don't apply here." Jason noted, not the least bit surprised to hear that. He wondered if that would make searching for the rip in time easier, or more difficult. Solele, meanwhile, was walking upright on the trunk of a tree. "She's right!" The silver-haired woman crowed as she stood on the trunk with ease; it was almost like a child's game. "Of course I'm right," Tsuruko put on her best Giselle impression. "I'm always right! And I never smile, too! And I'm generally unapproachable! And I have hairy armpits!" She got out of joking mode, saying, "Let's split up. Jason, you decide how we do this." "Does Jason even have experience with all of this time-dimension-travel stuff?" Solele seemed to trip over the last few words. The Jason she remembered barely knew anything beyond wanton slaughter, after all. "You'd be surprised." Jason muttered, darkly. "We're looking for a rip in time and space, a field of time energy created by two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressing together." He almost seemed to be explaining this for his own benefit as well; the memories he was calling on were those Hephaestus forced into his head right before he died. "A crack in time and space...?" Solele had obviously not been paying attention to Tsuruko last night. "A rift between the dimensions." Jason replied airily; it was the easiest way to explain it. "Some of them erase events in time completely; touch one and that's the end of you. The one we're looking for functions like a Anima. And with a name like the Forest of Discord...if it breaks the rules of physics, the rules of space and time are also rendered null..." Jason was still muttering to himself as he walked over to a particularly large tree, and removed the shade of one of it's low branches. Reveled under it was a large, glowing crack, simply floating in the air. "In a place like this, rare abnormalities would only be too common." "I'm just going to pretend I understood of all of that." Solele replied irritably. She didn't like being bombarded with that much information at a time. "This means we can get out of here, right?" "It does!" Tsuruko called out to the two- she seemed to wander off elsewhere, trying to find her own rip in time-space. Naturally, her own receptors reacted to Jason's discovery- and for some reason, she seemed to actually translocate, even when she didn't have that power. "So, now we can leave. ...Giselle's probably left already, anyway." "If we just stand around talking, we won't get anywhere." Jason said, unfazed by Tsuruko's strange teleportation. He extended a hand, and the crack, as if sensing a human presence, began to open wide like a mouth, shining a brilliant white light towards them all, the raw time energy washing over each of them. "This is the genuine article. Solele, Tsuruko, are you ready?" "I've been ready!" Solele replied, blinking repeatedly. Just looking into this thing was mesmerizing. This was...time energy? "Your body is...ready." Tsuruko couldn't resist the saying. "Ahaha, I'm so sorry." As she approached the rip... BANG! A shot of condensed magical energy flew past Tsuruko- whom preemptively responded, swerving to the side. "...Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The one approaching wore a black jumpsuit with golden armour covering their body, a large lion head-shaped shoulder pad covered their right arm with the lion's mane stylized to flow over their chest; and their head was covered with an odd, feline-like mask with large green eyes. "There you are, Gaiki! To think that my former ally would stoop so low as to attack innocents..." "...Ehhhh!?" Tsuruko exclaimed. "Zero!? Which one are you? Gary or Deen?" "..." The Zero didn't respond. "My name is Hiroto Shimakaze-" "Oh, you're the Bujin version!" Tsuruko responded. "I was hoping you'd either be Gary or Deen-" "Who the hell are any of those people?" Solele interjected, only to eager to cut Tsuruko's little ramblings off. Jason flashed the new arrival a cold glare, and addressed Hiroto directly. "I can only assume you're here to oppose us?" "Not you." Zero responded; not really looking at Jason or Solele- to him, they were naught but bugs. Basically, he was staring straight through them. "I'm here to destroy Gaiki; who's strayed from the path of justice." "And I'm going to destroy you; who's so foolishly decided to stand in our way." Jason replied calmly. He began to emit a faint, pulsing glow, blue magic energy coming off him in waves. It attracted the attention of Solele and Tsuruki quickly; it was a phase of magical power neither had felt him emit before. As quickly as the calm had started, it erupted into a fierce torrent of magical power on both of Jason's arms, ripping the sleeves of his hakama, small pieces of cloth fluttering down to the ground. As the energy faded, in Jason's hands were clutched two swords; both blacker than the darkest night, yet gleaming with a kind of aura that left one speechless. In his left hand was clenched a small blade, fitted so that his hand fit into the hollowed out portion on the grip. In his right hand was a much larger sword; similar in shape to his former Gehaburn; it was roughly the length of his own forearm, the size and shape of a khyber knife, also bearing a hollowed-out portion running along the back edge of the blade from the base to the middle of the blade. "I believe my Ekitokuan will end your life quite nicely." END